January 23, 2014

[reposted from the Alameda County Foster Youth Alliance newsletter]

Project WHAT!, a leadership development and job-training program for youth with incarcerated parents, is collecting surveys to learn about the unique challenges youth in San Francisco face as a result of their parent’s incarceration. The survey is geared towards youth ages 12-25. The deadline to submit surveys is Friday, February 14th at midnight. More info HERE.

The San Francisco Mayor’s Office is seeking a youth (18-24 year-old) applicant to the Reentry Council: The Mayor’s Office has an open application for a formerly incarcerated youth appointment to the Reentry Council. Interested individuals must apply to the Mayor for appointment for this last seat to be appointed. Applications and links to more information are available here.Paid Opportunity for Foster Youth: Confidential Interviews about Psychotropic Medications: Anna Johnson is working with Alameda County Behavioral Health Services to identify the positive and negative aspects of foster youth experiences with mental health, behavioral health and psychotropic medication prescriptions. Foster Youth 18 and older and former foster youth who would like to share their ideas for how to improve services are encouraged to call Anna to schedule a one hour interview. Interviews are private and confidential and youth will receive a $ stipend for their time. Details and flyer to share with youth HERE.

January 23, 2014

The Alameda County Social Services Agency will once again provide “No Cost” tax preparation services this tax season through its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)/Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program at the Eden Multi-Service Center (Hayward), Enterprise Office (Oakland), and Thomas L. Berkley Self-Sufficiency Center (Oakland) locations from January 22, 2014 through April 14, 2014. For more information about locations and services, please follow the link to the event flyer: http://fosteryouthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/EITC_postcard-2013-2014-English-Spanish.pdf

January 23, 2014

Applications to become a new Diablo Valley College EOPS student for the Spring 2014 semester are being accepted through Friday, January 23, 2014. The office will stop accepting applications at 1pm on Friday.

Students who are accepted in the program are eligible for a wide variety of valuable services to help them succeed in college, including the following:

Priority registration – Be one of the first students allowed to register for classes Academic, career, and personal counseling – Two counselors are dedicated to seeing EOPS students only. This means it might be easier for EOPS students to get counseling appointments Book vouchers – Free money to help you pay for some of your expensive textbooks Tutoring – Free peer-to-peer tutoring available in certain subjects and much, much more!

To be eligible for the program, you must meet the following criteria:

Be a California resident Be a full-time student (enrolled in 12 or more units) your first semester in the program (a 9-unit minimum exception can be made for parent students and foster youth) Not have an Associate Degree or higher or more than 70 degree applicable units Be qualified to receive the Board of Governors Fee Waiver

To ensure your spot in the program, stop by the EOPS Office to pick up an application, or contact your START coordinators for more information.